Breaking the Unbreakable
by Silentwater
Summary: In a state of emergency, the Gotei 13 negotiates with Aizen in exchange for his assistance against the Vandenreich, but he refuses to speak with anyone but Ichigo. With no other choice, Central 46 sends the substitute shinigami to complete this task. It seems harmless enough, but will he come out of this encounter with the criminal unscathed? Ichiruki. Slight AU
1. Chapter 1 - Visiting Only Darkness

**Title:** Breaking the Unbreakable

_**Summary:**__ In a state of emergency, the Gotei 13 decides to negotiate with Aizen in exchange for his assistance against the Vandenreich. Unfortunately for them, Aizen refuses to acknowledge anyone but the one who brought him down, and so Central 46 has no choice but to send Ichigo to complete this task. It sounds harmless enough, but will the substitute shinigami come out of this encounter unscathed by the ex-captain's influence? Ichiruki. Slight AU_

_**Chapter 1: Visiting Only Darkness**_

Muken.

The underground prison of Seireitei was the last place any Shinigami wanted to be. Cold, dark, and constructed of powerful sekkiseki stones that can instantly drain the reishi out of anyone of little Reiryoku, it was a place designed to confine only the most dangerous of criminals. And to the misfortune of one Kurosaki Ichigo and his constant companion, Kuchiki Rukia, they were given the daunting task of visiting Aizen Sosuke, the penitentiary's most nefarious inhabitant.

"Tell me again...why are we doing this?" Ichigo asked irritably as he walked alongside the petite thirteenth division vice-captain with a perpetual scowl on his face.

Rukia only furrowed her brow in response.

"We're desperate, Ichigo. The Gotei 13 wants Aizen's help against the Vandenreich, but he won't answer to anyone who is not his equal." She sighed. "The only one he can possibly acknowledge as such is you. That's why we need you to mediate negotiations with him."

Ichigo's face scrunched up in distaste as he thought about their predicament..

Certainly Soul Society was in a state of emergency, but asking the traitorous ex-captain of the fifth division for his assistance? The idea was unheard of! The man was a sociopath hell-bent on becoming soul king! And yet - Ichigo frowned - it cannot be denied that his role in the Vandenreich/Soul Society war could very well turn the tides in their favor if he so chooses to be cooperative.

'Aizen...'

As much as Ichigo hated to admit it, he felt a little sorry for the convict. He too often felt a loneliness that came from possessing unmatched power, but Ichigo never dared to even entertain the notion of becoming a god. It was already enough that he was an amalgamation of Human, Shinigami, Quincy and Hollow. He didn't need 'immortal being' to be added to his resume. He was perfectly fine with being...well, whatever the heck he was.

"Kurosaki-san. Kuchiki-fukutaichou." The combined voices of the guards standing outside of the prison's entrance interrupted the young man's thoughts and brought his attention to the fact that they have finally arrived at their destination.

"At ease, men." Rukia replied kindly, assuaging their wariness with an assuring smile.

They dutifully saluted to the vice-captain and took a step aside, allowing her and her citrus-haired companion to walk by them into the dark atrium of the prison.

Once inside, the substitute shinigami could instantly feel a strong force tug at his reiatsu, draining it from his body. He shuddered at the writhing feeling.

"Rukia." He uttered through bared teeth, as he watched her Kuchiki pride force her to remain composed even though she was already turning pale from the sudden loss of spiritual energy. When she couldn't take it anymore, she fell to her knees and gripped tightly onto the folds of her hakama until her knuckles turned white.

"Rukia!" he uttered again with greater urgency, as he rushed to her side to help her up but she refused to take his assistance.

"I'm fine," she winced before she made an attempt to stand on her own. "This is supposed to happen when you first step into a building that is meant to drain you of reishi. We'll be okay in a moment."

"Isn't there some kind of kidou to protect us from the effects?"

"Ichigo, kidou is made of reiatsu. This place would merely nullify the spell."

"And make it completely useless here, huh? Amazing." He could not help but be momentarily struck by awe, but it soon disappeared when he noticed once again just how unnaturally pale his partner was turning.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, as his brows became knitted in concern for her. When she did not reply, he wordlessly took the initiative to sweep her off her feet and into his arms like a bride.

"I-ichigo!" she stammered out, feeling undignified by the fact that he had to resort to carrying her because of her weak stamina. She was a vice-captain for heaven's sake! If nothing else, she could walk on her own!

"Put me down, right now!" She demanded, but her words seemed to have fallen upon deaf ears, as Ichigo merely scowled back at her.

"You look like you're about to pass out at any moment. So you can kick and hit me all you want, but I'm not going to let you go," he shot back at her, glaring at how stubborn she could be. He adjusted his arms so that she could rest more comfortably against him, but this only agitated her further.

"Ichigo, I don't need to get cozy because you're not carrying me! I'm not a weakling!" She protested as she struggled to remove herself from his hold, but to no avail. Much to her annoyance, even with most of his reiatsu stripped from him, he was still much stronger than her. "Let me go!"

"I don't think so," he deadpanned, scowling. "And goddamn it...would it really be so bad for you to just let me help you for once?" He retorted hotly, leaving the petite shinigami completely speechless.

'Baka...'

"...Fine. Do what you want," she finally conceded, as she tried to fight the blush that had rose to her cheeks. For some reason, she was suddenly very much aware of their close proximity. Flustered by this observation, she quickly added, "But as soon as I regain my strength, I'm walking on my own, you hear?" She huffed, trying to salvage what's left of her dignity.

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"As you wish, Ms. Vice-captain," he replied cheekily, giving her a boyish grin. And for that brief moment, Rukia could not be more thankful that the prison was only sparsely lit by a few dim lanterns. This boy was making her face feel hotter than a boiling tea kettle!

Fighting down the blush on her face, she quickly shifted her attention back to the task at hand.

"Well what are you standing around for? Let's get going," she ordered, kicking her dangling legs.

Ichigo sighed.

"Alright alright. Don't get your panties in a twist."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"...why do my undergarments have to come into conversation?"

"It's just an expression!" He defended, but she wouldn't buy it.

"Figures..let a man hold you, and he starts thinking about your underwear." She grumbled.

"..."

For a while, nothing but the steady hum of flickering embers from the lanterns' accompanied them as they made their descent towards Aizen's cell in the deeper levels of the prison. It was quiet, a little too quiet, and it made Ichigo feel uneasy. Something didn't seem right. It was bad enough that he was already a little unnerved by the spirit-negating stones that were still absorbing what little reiatsu they had left in their reserves, but that wasn't the main thing that was bothering him. There was simply something not right about Aizen's indirect request to see him. And if Ichigo's perception of Aizen was correct, everything Aizen did had a purpose, so what did he need him for?

Ichigo's expression hardened.

There had to be an ulterior motive.

He speculated, but had to cast his paranoia aside when he suddenly felt his skin crawl from having his reiatsu leave his body once again. 'Damn.' Ichigo thought, as he squinted to catch a better glimpse of Rukia's face in the dark. She was writhing so uncomfortably in his arms that he was wondering if they should just turn back and get her to the fourth division right away.

"Rukia, how are you holding up?" He murmured when he felt her whole body continue to weaken against him.

"I'll be fine." she quivered bravely, but Ichigo nevertheless held her even closer to himself to shelter her from the sekkiseki stones' effects. And although she knew that his fruitless efforts to protect her were actually all for naught, a silhouette of an appreciative smile made its way onto her lips, and she quietly mumbled a 'thanks' before she uttered out her own concern for him.

"Ichigo...something's bothering you. What is it?"

He paused.

"I'm not sure, but...don't you think something weird is going on here?" he asked somewhat hesitantly, forcing Rukia to consider her own state of unease.

"It **has** been a while since we've seen anyone else besides ourselves here," she agreed as she searched the darkness for anything that may be suspicious.

Then, as if to quell their suspicions and challenge their usually good instincts, a guard clad in a ghostly white uniform suddenly emerged out of nowhere from the corridor's boundless shadows.

"Shit!"

Ichigo cursed, as he tried to calm his rapidly beating heart from simply bursting out of his chest from being surprised by the man's sudden appearance. He had to admit that the guard looked creepy as hell. Gaunt-faced and hunchbacked, he looked like a decaying corpse tightly wrapped in a veil of white cellophane. Needless to say, the mere sight of him was enough to fuel anyone's nightmares for a while.

"I'm sorry for startling you, Kuchiki-fukutaichou...Shinigami daiko." The guard grumbled, nodding at their presence. "I've been waiting for you."

Ichigo shivered involuntarily when the man's dark eyes landed on him.

"Aizen's cell is just another level down. To allow you to pass through all of the security measures placed around him, I will escort you for the rest of the way," he continued in a hollow manner.

Not knowing what else to say, Ichigo merely nodded in agreement, while Rukia politely thanked the man for his assistance. She then asked Ichigo to put her down, claiming that she was strong enough to walk on her own at this point. Although Ichigo was skeptical, he nevertheless complied and gently helped her to her feet.

"Well, please, lead the way, sir," she kindly insisted, gesturing that he walk ahead of them.

Without delay, the man took her up on her offer and with a swish of his robes he spun himself around and continued walking down the stairs until they reached a platform. With a hard tap from the end of his staff, the platform rumbled and a secret passageway revealed itself to them.

"So...Aizen's down this way?" Ichigo cleared his throat in an attempt to hide his hesitance as he looked down the almost-pitch-black narrow path.

He exchanged a nervous glance with Rukia. He didn't trust this guy any more than he could see him in this poorly lit prison. Now they were following him into an even darker corridor? If this didn't scream sketchiness, he didn't know what did. But this man was supposed to help them bypass all of the security, so what choice did they have?

Ichigo scowled then pulled Rukia behind him to put some distance between her and the strange prison guard as they followed him further down the hall. If this man was up to something, there was no way he would let him get the chance to harm her first.

After making their way down one winding corridor after another, they eventually found themselves in front of an arched door with a single black stone in its center.

As soon as her amethyst eyes landed on the obsidian jewel, Rukia gasped.

"Kukyo sekki." she whispered, her voice trembling.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head and shot her a quizzical look.

"What's that?"

"It's like sekkiseki but kukyo-seki drains the very essence of life from you." She stared warily at the door. "I've only read about them. I didn't know that they still existed."

"So...how do we get inside?" He turned to the guard for an answer.

The eerie man simply sneered at them, then wordlessly twisted his staff clockwise until a claw appeared at one end of it. With the claw, he clutched the stone in its grasp and tugged it out of its placeholder, triggering the door to slide open.

"Please enter." He hissed.

Ichigo casted a wary look before taking a step into the room. It seemed harmless enough, but as soon as both he and Rukia had finished crossing over the threshold, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them, leaving their guide outside.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Ichigo exclaimed, pounding his fist against the door, as Rukia gave it her best effort to slide it back open but with no luck.

"I need to make sure no unwanted guests enter. I will open the door again when you are ready to leave," the guard stated with a raspy voice that was barely audible through the barrier.

Great. Their ability to escape this hole was now in the hands of this suspicious man. Ichigo frowned.

"Fine. We won't be long," the shinigami daiko replied reluctantly, then he sourly grumbled under his breath, "You better open it up when we say so."

"Ichigo." Rukia suddenly hissed as she tugged at his sleeve.

"What?" he asked irritably, but before he could wonder any further, he followed her gaze to where she was looking and his eyes immediately widened at the sight of a shadowed figure sitting in the middle of the cell.

"Aizen..."

A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for reading my new story! I appreciate it a lot. Hopefully it entertained you. I'll be back with the next chapter very soon! (It's actually done! So you don't need to wait for long!)


	2. Chapter 2 - Dealing With the Devil

**Chapter 2: **_**Dealing with the Devil**_

"Why Kurosaki Ichigo, what a pleasant surprise." the ex-captain silkily exclaimed with an empty chuckle. "Now tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of being visited by the savior of Soul Society?"

An eerie silhouette of a grin made its way onto the prisoner's lips, but it shook neither the daiko nor the 13th division vice-captain's resolve. Taking a step forward, Ichigo gave the man a stern look.

"Aizen, the Gotei 13 has a proposition for you."

Ichigo never took his eyes off of the convict. Something about him unnerved the shinigami-human hybrid. He seemed too calm, too aloof, for someone who was sentenced to 20,000 years of imprisonment. It was as if he was simply biding his time, plotting something, just waiting for the right moment to strike. Whether that was true or not didn't matter. All Ichigo knew was that he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Oh, I don't suppose it has something to do with the Vandenreich, now does it?" Aizen chuckled with an amused glint in his eye.

"And if it does?" Ichigo asked cautiously,

"Then Soul Society will get the same response I gave the Quincies: I do not offer my services to maggots." With that said, Aizen's only uncovered eye briefly flickered over to Rukia who was standing silently next to Ichigo with a stoic expression on her face.

"However...it seems that some maggots **are** more intriguing than others." He chuckled, eyeing her up and down. "Tell me, Kurosaki Ichigo, what is it about Kuchiki that captures your fancy?"

Being in no mood to indulge the traitor in his mind games, Ichigo merely pressed on.

"If you comply, the Captain Commander is willing to reduce your sentence by a quarter in exchange for your assistance." He stated as his mahogany brown eyes scanned the criminal's countenance for any signs of trickery. He was only rewarded with a smirk and an unrelated response.

"Is it her small stature? Her pretty face?" Aizen baited. Slowly but surely he was riling up the young man. He could tell by the way the shinigami daiko shot him a dirty look.

"You will only do what you are commanded to do." Ichigo growled, as he bared his teeth at him in suppressed anger, but it did nothing to intimidate the inmate, who simply continued to cajole him.

"Is the mere fantasy of having her squirm beneath you enough to string you along, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo's hands tightened into fists as he struggled to dismiss the lewd comment.

"Or maybe you have already had a taste of the forbidden fruit? How naughty..."Aizen drawled as he suggestively licked his upper lip in a slow and deliberate manner.

At that, the strawberry-blonde's knuckles turned painfully white. It took all of his willpower and self-control to not punch the man right then and there!

"As I was saying, your sentence will be reduced by 5000 years if you cooperate. If you betray the agreement at any point, you will be immediately executed. Is that understood, Aizen?" He almost snarled at the end but keeping his objective in mind, Ichigo managed to remain somewhat composed...somewhat.

For a moment, an unnerving silence settled between the prisoner and the young man, but then a malicious grin made its way onto the prisoner's face before his gaze turned back towards the shinigami-daiko.

"A measly quarter? If that's the case, my time would be better spent down here." The ex-captain scoffed.

In the blink of an eye, Ichigo was suddenly in front of Aizen, gripping him by the neck of his bindings.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted, fearing that he would put both himself and their mission in jeopardy by antagonizing the criminal. She placed her hands over his and attempted to pry his fingers off of Aizen, but he wouldn't let go.

"I don't understand! How can you just sit by and watch someone destroy your home? Don't you feel some sympathy for this world from which you came?!" Ichigo vented, as he angrily shook the prisoner.

Aizen clicked his tongue and gave him a look of pity.

"You misunderstand me. It's because I sympathize for it that it must be destroyed and recreated." He stated nonchalantly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Disgust and disappointment made their way onto both of Ichigo and Rukia's faces.

"That's madness!"

"Only to those who are close-minded." A pensive expression crossed the ex-captain's face. "Think about it, Kurosaki Ichigo. This world has been tainted by sin for over thousands of years. Doesn't it deserve a chance to be cleansed of it?"

"A new world order founded on mass murder is not any better." Rukia finally interjected, finding it impossible to hold her tongue when this man was spouting blasphemy.

For a moment, Aizen looked like he wasn't going to acknowledge her outburst, but then his eye turned towards her and in a most neutral tone, he responded. "I like to think of it as a necessary sacrifice to have all of these worms eliminate one another."

Not liking the way the ex-captain was looking at her, Ichigo gripped the prisoner's bindings a little tighter, capturing the criminal's attention once again.

"How can you say that? Everyone in Soul Society is going to suffer at the hands of the Vandenreich and you think that they should just die like lamb to the slaughter in order to achieve an ideal!"

"I can think of no greater purpose for their menial lives."

Revolted, the shinigami daiko released the man and pushed himself away from him.

"Come on, Rukia. Let's leave. There is no point in talking to this man any further." He wrapped his hand around her wrist and motioned for her to leave with him, but just as they were about to knock on the door, they were halted by the sound of Aizen's voice.

"Ichigo-kun." he drawled, as if beckoning the younger man to face him.

Without turning around, the daiko grumpily replied with a disgruntled "what?"

Had either the citrus-haired teen or the thirteenth division vice-captain looked, they would have seen the sudden glint of amusement glimmering in Aizen's single unveiled eye.

"You know...you and I are not too different."

A sour expression suddenly flickered across the daiko's face.

"I find that hard to believe." Ichigo grimaced. It simply did not feel good to be compared to the likes of him.

"No, really." Aizen continued serenely, "I believe that we were both destined to change the world. Isn't that your reason for achieving power?"

"Unlike you, I wanted the power to protect others, not just myself!"

"Yet, there will come a time when you will think otherwise. And when you do, please feel free to join me."

For a moment, Ichigo said nothing. Instead he rapped his knuckles against the metal door. Once. Twice.

"Why isn't the guard letting us out?" Rukia wondered aloud as she too pounded her fist against the door.

"Oi! Old man! We're leaving. Open up!" Ichigo rammed both of his hands against the door, but still no one answered.

Only the sound of a low chuckle resonated within the room.

"So eager to leave...why? Afraid that you may be tempted by my offer?"

Ichigo rounded on Aizen, and found the damn bastard smirking triumphantly. And then he realized...

_That cunning snake..._

"What did you do?" he demanded, taking a step towards the bound man.

In response, Aizen simply closed his eyes and began to mumble something incoherent.

"_Kan-zen...Saimin."_

Upon recognizing these words as part of a spell, Rukia instinctively threw herself in between Aizen and Ichigo.

"Ichigo!" Her desperate cry barely made it past her lips when Ichigo was suddenly blasted across the room by a strong force from…behind?

Surprised, Rukia's gaze darted away from the mocking expression on Aizen's face, that seemed to taunt that he had successfully fooled them, to cock her head back to look at the person who attacked Ichigo from the shadows.

"You?" She gasped, as the hunch-backed guard simply sneered at her, then made his way across the room to check his handiwork on the unconscious young man.

Alarmed, Rukia mustered what was left of her reiatsu to shunpo to Ichigo's side before the man could reach him.

"I won't let you touch him." She hissed, glowering at both the guard and ex-captain with unabated loathing before her narrowed eyes settled on the bound ex-captain.

"This was a trap, wasn't it?" The petite vice-captain uttered out bitterly.

"Indeed. A successful one at that too." Aizen answered smugly, peaking her curiosity.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at him."

Although distrustful of the prisoner and his minion, Rukia's eyes fell on Ichigo's unconscious form for a brief moment. At first glance, it could be seen that little physical harm was done to him, but his half-lidded lifeless eyes seemed to suggest otherwise for his mental state.

"Aizen! What did you do to him?" She cried out angrily, as she gently cradled the young man's head in her lap and began to pat his cheeks in a futile attempt to stir him from his coma.

"I'm merely enlightening him, tempting him to join me by my side. Whether he chooses to do so solely depends on him, but I'm sure he'll make the right decision," he replied. "Now be a good girl and just sit quietly while we wait for him to awake."

"As if we will stay here a minute longer." Rukia scoffed. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was already at the exit with Ichigo's body thrown over her back.

"Oh no you don't!" The guard made a motion towards blocking their escape, but was stopped by Aizen's order to halt before he could even pursue the vice-captain and the strawberry blonde ryoka who were already gone.

"Why are you letting them go?" The gaunt-faced man queried.

"The seed to corrupt Kurosaki has been planted. Nothing more needs to be done. For now, we just wait for him to come to us."

"Aizen-sama, how are you so sure that he will join you?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo may hate to admit it, but we are more alike than he thinks. It is only natural for beings to have an affinity for things that remind them of themselves" Aizen chuckled with amusement. "Now I dare say, you should probably escape now. The Kuchiki girl has most likely alerted the other guards of your betrayal."

"But what about you, Aizen-sama?"

"Have you discovered how to break this seal placed upon me by Urahara Kisuke?"

"...No, my lord."

"Then, be gone."

With that said, his hunch-backed minion disappeared into the shadows, leaving the criminal mastermind to bask in his small triumph.

_Soon, Kurosaki Ichigo, soon._

* * *

A/N: Lol. The more I review this chapter, the more I think I made Aizen sound like one of those cliched cartoon villains. Anyways, thank you sticking around long enough to read this story. The next chapter will be up in two to three weeks hopefully. Until then, much love 3

~ Silentwater


	3. Chapter 3 - Desire is a Fickle Thing

_**Chapter 3: Desire is a Fickle Thing**_

Beads of sweat rolled down the curve of Rukia's neck as she ran as far as her legs could carry her at maximum speed. After alerting the prison guards of the traitor, she bolted out of the prison as quickly as she could to get Ichigo some medical attention. If anyone could help him out of his current state, it was probably Urahara, she thought. The eccentric shopkeeper probably knew more than anyone else what Aizen was capable of and this made Rukia all the more certain that she needed to get to him, fast!

'_Aizen, you bastard!'_ She cursed as she shunpoed non-stop across the night sky over Sereitei. She cocked her head to the side to get a better look at her companion's face which was still hanging over her shoulder, paralyzed with a look of despondence.

'_I really hope that this isn't something he can't fix.'_

Upon reaching the gate to the human world, she skidded to a halt to catch her breath. She was fighting hard to not cave into the fatigue that was caused by the prison's spirit-absorbing stones, but try as she might to hold her ground, her legs were beginning to buckle beneath her.

'_Stay strong,'_ She urged herself.

She ordered the guards of the Senkaimon to quickly unseal the gates. They had barely opened it by a crack when the small vice-captain mustered up what little strength she had left and made an impressively mad dash right through it.

"Hang in there, Ichigo!" she implored, as the pitter-patter of her feet against the ground echoed throughout the Senkaimon in tune with her repetitive mantra of 'please...please...please…'

She eventually spotted the bright light at the end of the tunnel, and a large wave of relief instantly washed over her. Almost there! With a burst of energy, she tumbled through the exit, and found herself just miles above the shoten.

'_Thank goodness.'_ She let out a sigh, and was about to take another step forward when her vision suddenly began to blur.

"No…" she groaned, upon realizing that Muken had stripped her of so much energy that she was already at her limit. Seeing that they were going to fall, she used the very last of her strength to reposition Ichigo so that she could shield him from the impact of hitting the ground.

_'Ichigo.'_

Rukia held him tightly, her heavy lids drifting shut, as she braced herself for the impact.

To her surprise, she did not feel her bones crack into a hundred pieces, instead her body had actually hit something soft, warm, and nothing like the concrete that she was expecting.

"Kuchiki. Ichigo. Can you hear me?" a strong female voice commanded.

A gentle but firm hand shook her shoulder and Rukia feebly cracked open her eyes to see none other than the former captain of Soul Society's covert ops kneeling over them with a stern, worried expression on her face as she tried to assess their situation.

"Pl-please. We need to see Urahara," Rukia managed to choke out.

Yoruichi's gaze wandered over to the young man in the noble girl's arms and paused when she noticed his unresponsive demeanor. She placed a palm over his forehead. There was something definitely wrong, but that was all she could tell.

With a sigh, she turned her attention back to Rukia, who was struggling to not pass out again, and gave her a weak reassuring smile.

"You did well, Kuchiki." She placed her hand over the vice-captain's eyes and casted a kidou to make her sleep. "Now rest. We'll see what Urahara says about this."

* * *

"I can't do anything about this."

The mysterious shopkeeper kept his face hidden behind his wooden fan as he said this. If he was right, the lovely Yoruichi-sama was not going to be pleased with his answer.

As expected, something, particularly a sandal, flew past the shopkeeper's ear, and lodged itself into the wall behind him, leaving a huge crater in its wake.

"What do you mean you can't do anything about this?" Yoruichi berated, readying another sandal in her hand to throw at him.

"I'm saying I personally cannot do anything to save him, but…!" he quickly added the 'but' when he saw Yoruichi raise her hand again. "On the other hand, Kuchiki-san can!"

"Kisuke, quit beating around the bush and explain yourself!"

"Aizen has induced a coma in Ichigo with the remaining particles of the Hogyoku. I'm not sure how he managed to do that within Muken but anyway, as you know, the Hogyoku grants one's deepest desires. With such a power fueling his coma, it's only fair to assume that Ichigo-kun is trapped in his fantasy. And I believe that only the people who appear in this fantasy are the ones who can reach his consciousness and wake him up."

"And so...Kuchiki comes into play because this boy is most likely stuck in a dirty dream about Byakubo's sister?"

"Yoruichi!"

Urahara exclaimed with mock indignancy as he began to fan himself rapidly at the steamy suggestion. "I implied no such thing! But even if I didn't," He flashed her a handsome smirk, "you and I both know that if anyone's bound to make an appearance in Ichigo's fantasy world, it's likely Kuchiki-san, no?"

The cat-woman sighed.

"That's true." She admitted, shaking her head and clicking her tongue, "This boy can take on the very best of the Gotei 13 AND Aizen, but he can't even confess his feelings to a girl? Such a shame…In any case," her golden eyes flickered over to the unconscious boy once again,"what does Kuchiki have to do?"

"You will see very soon, my dear Yoruichi." The blonde ex-captain replied with an enigmatic look on his face. "Ichigo-kun's life is not necessarily in any danger so time is not of the essence. We'll let Kuchiki-san rest up first. Then we shall begin the infiltration!" He explained somewhat cheerfully, looking a tad too excited, as he left to go find some long-lost invention of his that was buried somewhere among his other infrequently-used knick-knacks.

The violet-haired woman merely scratched her head in confusion and shrugged. Well…it seems like he knows what he's doing.

She looked back at the comatose young man, and a tinge of worry began to tug at her heart.

'_Kisuke, this better work. Isshin's not going to like this, not one bit.'_

* * *

"_Ichigo…Ichigo..." A sweet alto voice purred into his ear, slowly drawing him out of his slumber. His eyelids quivered as they began to crack open but cringed shut again when the sight of a blindingly white room came into view. _

"_Ugh...where am I?" He groaned, rubbing the back of his stiff neck, as he forced himself to a sitting position so that he could get a better look at his surroundings which consisted of nothing but the incredibly plush, white-and-black, emperor-sized bed that he was currently resting on, and an arched door to the left of him. Strange… but wherever he was, it felt safe._

"_You're finally awake," he heard a most familiar voice sigh, as he felt their warm body shift next to him._

_Glancing down, he was met with none other than the sight of his petite nakama peering back at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes._

"_Rukia!" The strawberry-blonde daikou yelped in surprise, earning an amused giggle from the woman._

"_Did you rest well?" she uttered, as she reached up to cup his face with her soft dainty hands._

_Surprised by her tenderness, Ichigo instantly shied away from her touch, but it didn't stop his face from reddening from the intimate contact._

"_Oi! Wha-what's gotten into you?" He stammered, unable to meet her eyes, but was soon met with a completely different predicament of figuring out where else to look since she was only wearing a loosely-tied white yukata that was revealing way too much skin for his heart to handle. Much to his surprise, she answered him by letting her small dainty fingers grip onto the black collar of his Shihakusho, and with a strong sudden tug, she pulled his entire upper body closer to her own._

"_Rukia, what are you...?" he wondered aloud, but was quickly cut off by her warm soft lips moving hungrily against his own._

_For a good second, his brain was completely numb. The woman he loved was kissing him! Kissing him, of all people! The thought itself made him feel dizzy with both shock and euphoria, but he quickly overcame it as he found himself embracing her in return._

_Almost instinctively, he tightened his arms around her tiny waist to close the remaining distance between them and roughly returned her feverish kisses with his own. Despite his lack of experience, he managed to coax a throaty moan out of his fair-skinned lover. Pleased with her reaction, he kissed her again and this time he took his time to relish in how sweet and soft her lips were. Again and again, he ravished her lips until they were both almost breathless. It was only then did their osculation slow down to gentle playful nips at each other's lips before they completely parted and rested their foreheads against each other._

"_Rukia..." he groaned, licking his bruised lips, "That was…" _

"_Not bad." She smiled contently with a pretty flush on her face._

_He furrowed his brows at her in mock-hurt._

"_You can never compliment outright, can you?" _

"_Of course not," She replied cheekily, before pulling away from him to give him a prodding kick to the caboose. "Now get out of bed. Soul Society is going to suffer if its king continues to be a sloth." She laughed._

_In his lovey-dovey state, Ichigo goofily chuckled out a "...yeah" but then did a double take when he finally realized the full weight of her words._

"_Wait, what do you mean?"_

"_You have work to do, what else?" she replied haughtily, shrugging her yukata more tightly over her shoulders, as she crawled out of the bed to properly tie the garment in place._

"_No, I mean, what does the soul king have anything to do with us?"_

_Rukia shot him an incredulous look before it morphed into one of worry._

"_Did you hit your head, Ichigo? You're the soul king." She asked, cautiously._

"_Since when?" He yelped, his eyes widening in shock._

"_Since the Quincies assassinated the previous one?" Rukia explained, her tone wary and confused by his odd questions. "The Soul King chose you to be his heir and willed you his powers, you know that."_

_She placed a soft hand against his forehead._

"_Are you sure you're not sick?"_

"_I…" He felt dizzy. None of this made any sense. The last thing he remembered doing was...he paused. What WAS he doing before he awoke in this room? His eyes scanned around its white walls in hopes of searching for something to jog his memory but nothing came to mind. His gaze eventually landed on the room's only exit._

_If what Rukia was saying was true, then…_

_In an instant, he kicked off the remaining bed sheets and scrambled out of bed as he clumsily fumbled his way out of the room only to end up stepping foot into a hall held up by giant pillars of ivory. He rushed to take a look at the view in between the pillars, and what he saw confirmed everything his companion had told him. _

_The endless landscape of white fluffy clouds against a blue sky almost took his breath away._

"_This is really the main palace of the Royal Realm," he uttered, and in an attempt to assure himself more than anything that he wasn't imagining things, he pinched himself hard. _

"_Oww!" Yep he was still here._

_As he rubbed the sore spot on his arm, he felt a tug at his opposite sleeve._

"_Ichigo, if you are not feeling well, I think you should rest." Rukia suggested out of concern. "I'll tell the Royal Guard to continue their duties as usual until you feel better."_

"_No, I'm fine. I…" he placed his hand over hers, then paused. He had a nagging suspicion that there was something amiss here and he intended to find something, anything, to prove to that he was right. To do that, he couldn't confine himself to an empty room, now could he?_

"_I'm going to take a walk around," he stated firmly. He looked back down at Rukia and flashed her a small shy grin. _

"_Care to join me?"_

_The vice-captain returned his smile with a playful one of her own. "Well...you do seem a little disoriented at the moment, so very well. I will accompany you."_

_With that said, she laced her fingers through his and together they headed towards the light at the end of the hall._

* * *

A/N: How did Aizen pull off a spell in Muken? What is Urahara going to do? How are they going to wake up Ichigo? And what purpose does Ichigo's fantasy serve in Aizen's plan? So many questions! But surely I'll answer them all in the next few chapters, so stay tuned!

P.S. Reviews and critiques are much appreciated. Don't hesitate to let me know if there's a mistake or if you think there's something I should improve on. I'll do my best to keep any advice in mind as I write the next chapter. Thanks!


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